Junie B. Jones

I'm not sure how to sum up my fondness for Junie B. Jones. She's like a curious little friend that arrived a few weeks ago and hasn't left just yet. While she's sassy and smart and a girl...she's found a little place in Will and my hearts that makes us laugh out loud and sigh out loud with "you shouldn't have done that" thoughts.

Finding Junie B. was interesting. I'm slightly concerned that Will may be a bit of a know-it-all at school next year. Rob thinks I have my teacher eyes on him too closely and maybe I do, it's just that the boy can hardly stand to lose or be wrong and (if he is anything like me) than he'll try anything to stay head and always be right. And while that's ok for adults (it is ok right?) I'm not sure how that will go over in a room of 6 year olds. So I ask my friend Julie who teaches little munchkins about a way to spark up a conversation with Will about said topic. Thank god for teacher friends because she instantly says "you need Junie B." Tell me more I ask. Well, turns out Julie reads Junie B. Jones to her students and they stop and talk every page or so about Junie B. She asks the great questions like "would you want to be friends with Junie B?" or "Is that what we say to adults?" You know...the real important life shaper questions. So I RUN to the library the next day and pick up 4 Junie B. books (Barbara Park is the author for all you school aged moms reading) and I pack them for our cabin trip. The first one we read is Junie B Jones and some Sneaky Peeky Spying.

I read it out loud to Will and by page 2...we were in LOVE. I'm not quite sure if this is what Julie had in mind...I was literally in tears from laughing so hard. Junie B. is a feisty kindergartner in Room Nine whose teacher is Mrs. (she has forgotten her last name and thus calls her Mrs.) She is clever, quick witted, and sassy. She is sometimes mean, says 'powerful words' like 'Hate' and 'Fat' and 'Ugly' - all of which make Will laugh with delight because they are off limit still in this house. Junie B. asks too many questions and talks more in class than she should. She is also incredibly literal like most 6 year olds and can't understand why we say CHEESE when we smile because cheese does NOT make her smile! She reminds me of students I've had in the past...the ones that I shake my head at but who make me smile every day. I love Junie B. and despite my desire to present a look at a person we should not be like, I'd welcome Junie B. in my house. She'd certainly keep things lively!

What's more...Junie B. has grabbed the attention of Will and will not let go. He reads at least a book a night by himself in his bed with his light on. I love to read and was bummed last summer when Will was only somewhat interested in books. I asked my friend Holly when her older son fell in love with books. Her advice was to wait it out...it would happen. and happen it did! It makes me so happy to have Will love books like I do. He gobbles them up whenever he can. He talks about Junie B. like a friend and we share that look when something happens and we both know what Junie B. would do (it's probably naughty) and we laugh out loud together. I am already sad for the day we read the last Junie B. book and am excited for when Addison will pick them up to enjoy them in a year or two.

For now...I get to peek in on Will at night, snuggled under his covers with a good book in his lap and a smile on his face. That is one of the best memories I can think of holding on to.

a night away

As i type this I am curled up in a hotel room bed with about a dozen pillows propping me up and my laptop on my lap. I'm at the Oregon gardens which is the most beautiful place I've seen in a long time and I have hopes to come back again and again. The hotel here is cute and gorgeous all at the same time and while I haven't even had time tos troll the gardens, I know they are fabulous. I'm speaking at a conference tomorrow about technology in the classroom and in exchange, they gave me a free night here. Here's what I love about getting away for a night alone:
1. a quiet car ride (with NPR on)
2. a quiet check in
3. time to think...i've seriously gotten more things done in the last 3 hours than the last 3 weeks. for me, I have to be outside of my element -the house where i get sidetracked by a zillion little things
5. the peacefulness of eating a hamburger at having a glass of wine at 10:30 at night while reading a book listening to some random singer belt our margaritaville in the hotel bar. I was that girl
4. quiet. ahhhh the quiet.

What I miss...
1. my husband
2. my kids
3. my bed
(in that order)

Love you guys!

Take me out to the Ball Game...

A few weeks ago we ventured up North to the mariners vs Cubs game. Rob's goal is to take the kids to one Cubs game a year. Thanks goodness for interleague play otherwise we'd have had to drive a lot longer than 3 hours. The shirts were a Christmas gift from Uncle Stan & Aunt Krista this year. This gift was on the top 10 best gift Rob ever received. Will had his rally cap on before the game even started (rightfully so as the Cubs had been playing pretty bad).

Papa went with us

And so did Nana. She texted all game long though (don't let her tell you that I'm on my phone all the time!)
Will got slightly side tracked with zone out eyes. But who can blame him? 9 innings is SO long.
They next day we say Game 2. We ate Cracker Jacks (lots)
And really big sno cones (so big that it took Addison 90 minutes in heat to get through it)

Then we did silly faces to pass the time - this is in the spirit of Aunt Lyndsey who loves silly faces. PS...the game went 13 innings so we did LOTS of stuff to pass time.
Then Addi fell asleep and missed Take me out to the Ball Game...
And Rob did a serious face...just to show how cool he is.

Snap!

The kids learned how to snap this week. While it's not the same way you and I do it....it's still a snap! Addison taught Will, something he didn't take too hard!

Beach Day - Part 2

Where did I leave of....Beach time. We tried to take our foot picture, because it's fun to see everyone's feet in a picture and because two years ago Kodak listed it on their 'must have pics for 2008' and so I consider it a must have pic for every summer. This year though, we lacked coordination and patience and instead got this:

I was trying to push Addison's chest out of the way with my knee and then it got in the way.   Oops!

From Seaside, we scooted North to Astoria (where the wedding was).  Because we had 15 minutes to spare, Rob decided we should drive across the big, long bridge (he said it was 7 miles, I said 3..turns out it is 4) and over to Cape Dissappointed.  Disappointingly enough...we never made it (like that play on words?!)  We ran out of time and instead changed in a view point parking lot.  While Rob and I were changing, Will decided to reenact Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall.  This is what it looked like:

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..."

"Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.."

"All the kings horses and all the kings men..."

"Couldn't put Humpty together again!"

Addison spent the entire time trying to climb the wall like her big brother.

The wedding was pretty, sweet, cute.  They had their reception on the water and we had lots of fun playing on the docks.

Will and I played paparazzi (in the spirit of Aunt Lyndsey who wasn't there)

Happy

Silly faces

Mean Muggin' faces

And, Will's favorite, the "Huh?" face.

Addi had a go at it to but I cut her chin off.

The bride and groom had the cutest little room set up called the Photo Booth 

where guests were supposed to take pictures with the disposable cameras.  So Fun!  it was stocked with frames and silly mustache thingys that you could hold up to your faces.

The frames were my FAVORITE because they remind me of Modern Family...my favorite show!

We like silly faces!

I love this picture because you can see us in the background and then through the camera that my mom is holding too.    We also made my mom and dad play along (aren't they cute!)

And then ended with a cute picture of Rob and me. 

So fun!  

Just another Saturday.

I'm on a roll with this blog thing. Funny what a summer break will do for you huh?!

So yesterday was anything but normal! We crammed so many fun activities into one day (without any meltdowns) that I could hardly believe it. A summer wedding at the beach got Rob and I thinking that maybe we should just take the whole day to play along the coast. We headed out in the morning...destination Seaside and got side tracked by a rest area and a fun little hike. I love my husband (for many reasons) because he will actually do the hike at the rest station (I associate rest station with peeing and weird people oh and truck drivers) and what do you know...it's a pretty damn good hike. This was the bridge that ran over the stream that Will floated sticks down.  This was just the start...

We got lots of pictures on the bridge because it was so pretty!

Most of the hike looked like this

Sometimes it's hard for me to fathom the sheer size of the trees in the forest.  SO BIG!  And since we were near the coast, there were several trees that had been blown down in the big wind storm a few years ago.  How does a tree that large just blow down?  I don't know. 

We ended the hike by scratching the kids' names into a tree.  We told them we'd be back next year to see what things looked like.  Will was so excited.

Then we headed off to the beach.  I was hoping for a bright sunny sky, but it was overcast and kind of misty, but warm.  I love taking photos of the kids at the beach.  I swear I have the same picture of Will jumping the waves from 4 years ago...

 The kids usually always grab sticks first...

Then they inch their way into the water

Addison didn't like her shorts getting wet at the bottom and so she kept holding them up.  Will couldn't get wet enough!

Then we get the action shots which are my favorite because they just capture how much FUN the kids are having!

Then there is the usual self portrait...

And then the shot of Rob and I in which we always laugh at the double chin or odd smile that results.

From the beach... we went North to Astoria.  I'll have to add those photos tomorrow because I am pooped!